Obama aides concede Romney won on 'style'

By BYRON TAU

10/03/2012 11:00 PM EDT

Obama campaign aides are conceding that Mitt Romney won the debate on "style points," but are hammering the Republican nominee over the substance of his remarks.

"He wins the style points," deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said on CNN in the aftermath of the debate. "But that's not what's been dogging his campaign. What is dogging his campaign are the policies that he doubled down on tonight."

But she launched into an attack on the substance of what Romney said, saying that he had backed away from his own tax plan in Wednesday's debate

"He's not being honest with the American people," Cutter said.

Senior strategist David Axelrod also conceded the "style points" to Romney — and said that he has always been an aggressive, good debater.

"Gov. Romney's always been good on the attack," Axelrod told NBC's Brian Williams.

"All night long, I'd give him style points," Axelrod said. "What he would be graded down on is the substance of what he was talking about."

Asked point blank by Williams if Axelrod was happy with Obama's "dememaor and his energy level," he punted on the question.

"What I'm happy with is the path he wants to lead this country on," Axelrod said. "What's very clear is the contrast that we saw on the other side."